27/JAN/2011

Yesterday we got a call from One Mile Caravan Park about ababy koala on the ground with the mother still up the tree. Fran, Jay,Stephanie & Rebecca went for me. We were all expecting a decent sized backbaby for this time of the year. But surprise it was a 229gr pouch joeycovered in ants crying for it's mother while mum (we think) was snoozinghigh up a tree. This little girl has some serious bark off her little nose,seems quite scrawny for the amount of fur she has and was coverd in somesort of wet substance (not dog saliva) that when it dried her fur driedstiff. She is drinking quite well considering her size.I'm hoping that my magic wand is still working like it has done so manytimes before and this dear little girl has a chance, but, honestly I'm notoptimistic. I haven't named her yet for obvious reasons but if she lookslike surviving I'll give her a name then. At the moment she is just calledlittle Angel. Please

29/JAN/2012

She is soooo small! But she has gained 5grams this morning.She has had a bit of a discharge from her right eye yesterday and last nightit was stuck closed. I bathed it open with a cotton bud. There is no colourto the discharge but her eyes are closed all the time. She is very lethargicand having her milk exhausts her. Some feeds she goes really well though,which is normal for someone her size. She will go to see Uncle Don tomorrow, wemight have to start some treatment for the eye, even antibiotics might benecessary. She may have an infection and that might be why she fell. So forthis little girl, whatever you believe in, can you say a prayer, cross yourfingers, get on the floor and face Mecca or even a lucky rabbits foot. I'mnot fussy where the help comes from as long as it's directed at her. Thanks SUE

30/JAN/2012 A QUICK VIDE OF HOPE AFTER HER BATH

30/JAN/2011

The baby went to see Uncle Don NOAHS ARK VET today and it has been discovered that thecrustyness around her eyes is also covering most of her body. He said it isa dry skin condition caused by poor nutrition. I have to bath her and putantibiotic cream on the raw exposed skin and Vitamin E into the rest of herbody. She has had her bath and cream applied which she wasn't all thatfussed on. Don thinks once she has papped this should improve. But she hasskin peeling off all her feet and what feels like cradle cap under the furall down her back. Lets hope when this all softens up and comes off that thefur doesn't go with it. She has gained a bit more weight which is good andis feeding OK. So let's see if we can make her feel a bit better. She had10mins in the sun after her bath and she had a good sniff and look aroundand even a bit of a scratch. Fingers Crossed Sue (SEE VIDEO HERE)

8/2/2012

She is now a whopping305grams, that is an increase of 76grams. Slow I know, but I'm excited. Sheis fighting all her feeds and the only thing she likes to do is chew on astick. Even though she only weighs 305 grams and I weigh considerably more,she still wins every argument!! She is losing fur evey time some of the dryskin comes off as you can see by the photos. I am applying a specialmoisturiser all over once a day, followed by a bath every three days weatherpermitting. We enjoy sitting in the sun after a bath and having a hugescratch. But as the sun has been in short supply lately its been difficultto get the ideal bath conditions. Her little nose has had all the skin peeloff three times now and is looking a lot better. She went to see Uncle Don NOAHS ARK VETon Monday because I noticed a cloudiness to her right cornea. Don said shehas injured (probably scratched) it and it had formed an ulcer which becameinfected. The cloudiness we are seeing is scar tissue which will go away onits own. But as a precautionary measure I am putting Terramyacin ointment init for 7 days. She is bright and alert and has quite an attitude and temper.All good traits in little girls unless you are trying to feed her. I havebeen going back through my care sheets for the other joeys I have had in atthe same size and they were all buggers to feed. So her behaviour isworrying but normal. I can look forward to another 5/6 weeks of similarreluctance with feeds. It's great fun at 3am, half asleep, spending 40 minstrying to get someone to drink 10mls! While they spend 40 mins telling you"I DON'T LIKE IT. I DON'T WANT IT" and doing that amazing head spin out ofthe Exorcist. Maybe she is possessed? Yawn Sue

8/2/2012 AMAZING VIDEO OF HOPE

10/2/2012

Who thinks she is really clever? All very clever until we get ourself intoa predicament then we yipp loudly to be rescued. Full of beans and attitudefor someone so small and supposedly sick.

13/2/2012

Hi Guy’s, the little girl went to see Uncle Don today and he was very pleased. All the dry scaly skin has gone and new fur is growing back, her right eye is all better so the ointment can stop. But the best part is she now weighs 339 grams (229 on admission) so she has increased her weight by almost 50% in two weeks. He also took skin scrapings to have a look at under his microscope to make sure there was no other cause like mites. And she got an all clear on that. So it’s all up to her now to grow and turn from an ugly duckling into a swan. By the way, she is getting plenty of sleep, not like me. J But she is worth all the sleep deprivation and worry. Ugly as she is now I know she is going to turn into a stunner. Keep watching this space for the best looking koala on the planet. Sue

16/2/2012

LORETO CAME TO VISIT !!

22/2/2012

HOPE HAS STARTED TO EAT !!SHE LOVES LOLLIES (FLOWER SEEDS OF MELALUKATREES)

24/2/2012

How clever is she!!! She could see me and actually was being a bit of asook, trying to get to me the ladder got in the way. But she can climbreally well for a little girl. She seems to be feeding better as wellsue

9/3/2012

We are having a little practice getting ready to go in cot like a biggirl. Will be a little while yet, but having a look around won't hurt.Cheers Sue

HOPE AND SUE N.B.N NEWS REPORT THREATEND SPECIES

19/3/2012

Here is an update on the midget. She is starting to practice on a log.Getting ready for the cot as the basket is getting a bit small for her. Asyou can see she's not quite got it yet but it's not bad for a first branchday. Her fur is coming through nicely and all over. The only place I haven'tnoticed any regrowth yet is on the left ear. She was 560gr last time Iweighed her and she is due to be weighed tomorrow so she should go close to600gr I hope. She is feeding a little bit better and Aunty Annie is learningto feed her so I can go to Aunty Loteto's graduation ceremony on Friday.Annie probably has a different opinion as to how well she is feeding :-).Otherwise all is going well with her. Cheers Sue

25/3/2012

JUST SOME VIDEO ON HOPES PROGRESS

HOPES FINAL DAYS6/4/2012

Hi Everyone. As you are all aware, little Hope has been doing it toughthe last couple of weeks. The last couple of days have been the worst. Thediarrhoea finally stopped and her poo returned to pellets but they werestill very soft. She was having a lot of difficulty feeding as she has hadright from the start. So far she has had over 370 feeds and I can honestlysay there has not been one feed that I can say she enjoyed, they were all abattle.Thursday lunch time she refused her milk, then at 6pm same again. So Ioffered her some boiled water with a dash of honey in it and managed to onlyget her to take 8 mls. Just after this feed she started to have smallseizures so I gave her an injection of Dex. This seemed to calm them downand I was hoping that it would cover her for any pain. At 10pm they startedagain so I gave her some Vallium and I nursed her until 1.30am. At 3 am I woke to find she had made her way outof the pouch and blanket . The seizures hadstopped and she seemed brighter.Friday morning she was still with us, and at 6am I was able to get all herfeed into her. But that is as good as it got. She was unable to feed at allfor the rest of the day. The seizures started again at 10pm and I gave heranother injection of Vallium. Noel and I took turns walking and rocking herand she died with Noel at 11.10pm. The most amazing thing is the littleangel could still manage to crawl out of her pouch to do a wee as sick asshe was.I have done the absolute best that I could for her to survive, andconsidering I didn't think she would make it through the first night, 10weeks later it shows what a tough little girl she was. She certainly had theattitude to survive, it was just not physically possible for her. She camein at 220 grams and died weighing 617grams.The attached photos I took about a week ago and forgot that I had takenthem. ALL the other joeys I have had have had to be coaxed to climb on arope at first as it was very scary becaused it MOVED!! Not Miss Hope. Shehad no fear, just straight on with no coaxing needed. Thanks for all youcrossed fingers and prayers. I'm sure they have helped her survive the last10 weeks. Sue